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Post by David on Oct 21, 2020 9:10:03 GMT
pensive
PRONUNCIATION:
(PEN-siv)
MEANING:
adjective: Sadly thoughtful; wistful.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Old French pensif (pensive), from penser (to think), from Latin pensare (ponder), frequentative of pendere (to weigh).
Ultimately from the Indo-European root (s)pen- (to draw, to spin), which also gave us pendulum, spider, pound, pansy, pendant,
ponder, appendix, penthouse, depend, spontaneous, vilipend, pendulous, ponderous, filipendulous, equipoise, perpend, and prepend.
Earliest documented use: 1393.
USAGE:
“When we met last spring, I expected the Belfast-born investor ... to be elated. Instead, I found him to be pensive and almost post-traumatic.”
Dearbhail McDonald; ‘Nama Nearly Destroyed Me’ -- Top London Hotelier; Sunday Independent (Dublin, Ireland); Sep 18, 2016.
See more usage examples of pensive in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.
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Post by David on Oct 21, 2020 9:10:44 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Biographical history, as taught in our public schools, is still largely a history of boneheads: ridiculous kings and queens, paranoid political leaders,
compulsive voyagers, ignorant generals, the flotsam and jetsam of historical currents.
The men who radically altered history, the great creative scientists and mathematicians, are seldom mentioned if at all.
-Martin Gardner, mathematician and writer (21 Oct 1914-2010)
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Post by David on Oct 22, 2020 8:50:52 GMT
devi
PRONUNCIATION:
(DAY-vee)
MEANING:
noun: A goddess.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Sanskrit devi (goddess). Earliest documented use: 1799.
NOTES:
Devi is her middle name. Really. Kamala means lotus; also the name of a goddess.
USAGE:
“She is in reality a devi with enormous power and titanic strengths.”
Anita Myles; Feminism and the Post-modern Indian Women Novelists in English; Sarup & Sons; 2006.
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Post by David on Oct 22, 2020 8:51:24 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Think for yourself and question authority.
-Timothy Leary, psychologist and writer (22 Oct 1920-1996)
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Post by David on Oct 23, 2020 14:19:02 GMT
Joe or joe
PRONUNCIATION:
(joh)
MEANING:
noun:
1. A fellow; guy.
2. Coffee.
ETYMOLOGY:
For 1: Short for Joseph, from Hebrew Yoseph, from yasaf (to add or increase). Earliest documented use: 1846.
For 2: Origin unknown, perhaps an alteration of java. Earliest documented use: 1941.
USAGE:
“Sure, [Richard Jewell] made some mistakes, but he was just a regular Joe.”
Mark Daniell; Real-Life Hero; The Ottawa Citizen (Canada); Dec 13, 2019.
“He took a sip. ‘Wow, this is a great cup of joe!’”
John Teofilo Padilla Jr.; Joe and the Peace Eternal; Archway; 2018.
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Post by David on Oct 23, 2020 14:19:39 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Remember, we all stumble, every one of us.
That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand.
-Emily Kimbrough, author and broadcaster (23 Oct 1899-1989)
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Post by David on Oct 26, 2020 20:45:33 GMT
If you have ever cooked with whatever is available in the fridge or pantry, you will relate to this week’s selection of words.
We didn’t start with a recipe in mind. Just picked a bunch of words and tossed them in the pan.
What came out after we let them wrestle for a while is here this week. Enlightening, tasty, nourishing, filling? You decide.
coquelicot
PRONUNCIATION:
(KAHK/KOHK-lee-koh)
MEANING:
adjective: Of orangish-red or reddish-orange color.
noun: Such a color.
ETYMOLOGY:
From French coquelicot (red poppy), from its resemblance to the crest of a rooster, from coq (rooster).
Earliest documented use: 1795. Also see, coxcomb.
USAGE:
“Do you know, I saw the prettiest hat you can imagine, in a shop window in Milsom Street just now
-- very like yours, only with coquelicot ribbons instead of green.”
David M. Shapard; The Annotated Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen; Anchor Books; 2013.
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Post by David on Oct 26, 2020 20:46:01 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I have a trunk containing continents.
-Beryl Markham, adventurer (26 Oct 1902-1986)
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Post by David on Oct 27, 2020 17:03:42 GMT
capacious
PRONUNCIATION:
(kuh-PAY-shuhs)
MEANING:
adjective: Having a lot of space; roomy.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin capax, from capere (to take). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kap- (to grasp),
which also gave us captive, capsule, capable, capture, cable, chassis, occupy, and deceive. Earliest documented use: 1614.
USAGE:
“[Trump’s] capacious definition of sucker includes those who lose their lives in service to their country, as well as those who are taken prisoner,
or are wounded in battle.”
Jeffrey Goldberg; Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’; The Atlantic; Sep 3, 2020.
See more usage examples of capacious in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.
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Post by David on Oct 27, 2020 17:04:28 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others.
If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.
-Emily Post, author and columnist (27 Oct 1872-1960)
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Post by chelle on Oct 29, 2020 4:48:30 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others.
If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use. -Emily Post, author and columnist (27 Oct 1872-1960) Beautiful!!! |
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Post by David on Oct 30, 2020 2:10:04 GMT
I think so also Michelle!
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Post by David on Oct 30, 2020 2:10:59 GMT
vaporous
PRONUNCIATION:
(VAY-puh-ruhs)
MEANING:
adjective:
1. Relating to vapor.
2. Producing vapors; volatile.
3. Vague; hazy; obscure; insubstantial; transitory; unreliable; fanciful.
4. Translucent.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin vapor (steam). Earliest documented use: 1527.
USAGE:
“Our mother was vaporous. She emerged from her bedroom only at night and always in her nightgown,
a sheath of flowered flannel with a disturbingly childlike bow at the neck.”
Karen Joy Fowler; We are All Completely Beside Ourselves; Penguin; 2013.
See more usage examples of vaporous in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.
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Post by David on Oct 30, 2020 2:12:02 GMT
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Certainly none of the advances made in civilization
has been due to counter revolutionaries and advocates of the status quo.
-Bill Mauldin, editorial cartoonist (29 Oct 1921-2003)
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Post by David on Oct 31, 2020 3:09:02 GMT
luteous
PRONUNCIATION:
(LOO-tee-uhs)
MEANING:
adjective:
1. Of an orange-yellow or greenish-yellow color.
2. Muddy.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin luteus (yellow), from lutum (yellowweed, mud). Earliest documented use: 1656.
USAGE:
“Of the five-thousand-odd species of stinkbug in the world, the brown marmorated kind is the most destructive,
the most annoying, and possibly the ugliest. It is roughly the size of a dime, although thicker,
but its head is unusually small, even for an insect, which gives it an appropriately thuggish look.
Its six legs prop its shield-shaped body up in the air, as if they were pallbearers at the funeral of a Knight Templar.
Its antennae are striped with bands of dark and light, while its eyes, should you get close enough to gaze into them,
are the vivid red of an alarm clock at night. The ‘marmorated’ in its name means ‘marbled’, but ‘mottled’ is closer to the truth.
Entomologists, who have a color palette as elaborate as Benjamin Moore’s, describe the underside of its body as ‘distinctly pale luteous’.”
Kathryn Schulz; Home Invasion; The New Yorker; Mar 12, 2018.
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